Of all new technologies mobile phones are the most ubiquitous. In one study of 333 Japanese university students(Thornton, P. & Houser, C., 2004), 100% reported owning a mobile phone and 99% routinely send emails from their mobiles. In contrast, only 43% sent emails from a personal computers(PC) and only 20% had used a personal digital assistant (PDA). Their popularity and multi-function potential makes them an exciting, largely untapped educational resource.
Potential educational applications & tasks
Students use mobile phone to record, edit and publish blogs or podcasts to Teachertube.
Teacher produced audiovisual content transmitted to students mobiles via bluetooth.
Students collaborate, communicate, brainstorm via email, IR bluetooth messages or SMS.
Quizzes sent by SMS to students. They complete the quiz and send back for assessment
Post in voice video media and text
Composing a story, essay, even a novel! - half of Japan's top 10 selling works of fiction in the first six months of last year were composed on the handset of a mobile phone (Norrie, J. 2007).
Student slideshows & presentations projected directly via bluetooth to data-projectors.
Students can participate in peer-review marking of ‘self-assessment learning activities’ via SMS.
Advantages
Highly portable
Bluetooth enables data to be exchanged instantly, or sent to data-projectors or other peripherals such as printers.
Digital still and video cameras are standard in most mobiles
SMS facility is built-in
Audio recording device is built-in
MP3 playback is built-in
Internet access (often at broadband speeds) is built-in
Organisations such as http://www.mobilearn.org seek to mainstream mobiles as a teaching & learning resources
Can also make telephone calls ☺
Issues
Small screen size mitigates against mobiles as a writing tool (Chinnery, 2005)
Small keypad size makes entering text difficult (Chinnery, 2005)
In Australia, phone companies charge an extra monthly fee for internet access and email facilities. This is a disincentive to enabling the full potential of mobiles.
Steve ShaefferProject Manager of the Mobile ESL project Using Mobiles for Access to Digital Content
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Mobile Phones
Introduction | Potential educational applications & tasks | Advantages | Issues |
Introduction
Of all new technologies mobile phones are the most ubiquitous. In one study of 333 Japanese university students(Thornton, P. & Houser, C., 2004), 100% reported owning a mobile phone and 99% routinely send emails from their mobiles. In contrast, only 43% sent emails from a personal computers(PC) and only 20% had used a personal digital assistant (PDA). Their popularity and multi-function potential makes them an exciting, largely untapped educational resource.Potential educational applications & tasks
Advantages
Issues
Steve ShaefferProject Manager of the Mobile ESL project
Using Mobiles for Access to Digital Content
.
References / Bibliography
Here
Further Information and Resources
links / vidoes / other